Though they won at Toledo and DePaul, the road in the SEC has proven to be a big step up for Vanderbilt, as indicated by their 80-60 loss on Thursday at Tennessee.

“I think it’s fun,” Ogilvy said, “but [the crowds] do have an impact, as much as I don’t like to admit it.”

Vanderbilt turned the ball over 21 times at Tennessee. Its free throw shooting was an uncharacteristic 60 percent, and it shot an abysmal 14.3 percent from three-point range. Energized by a crowd of 20,799 orange-clad Volunteer fans, Tennessee got 12 steals and several more deflections.

“It looked like the game from last year,” coach Kevin Stallings said.

The Commodores were able to close the gap to 61-53 on a Shan Foster three-pointer, and almost cut it to five on a three that rimmed out. But Tennessee responded by ending the game on a 19-6 run.

“We didn’t give ourselves a chance,” Stallings said. “We had some opportunities to make it interesting, but we’d miss a shot.”

There are telling signs that a team is falling behind in a road game. A big man makes a three-pointer, the home team gets a breakaway jam, or an alley-oop is worked to perfection. All three of these occurred at various points Thursday night.

Whether it was Wayne Chism or Ryan Childress spotting up from 22 feet away, or Tyler Smith slamming home a lob or J.P. Prince dunking off of a rebound, it was clear Tennessee was feeding off their crowd. And it may have had the Commodores rattled.

“Especially on the road, we’ve got to play harder and make sure we don’t dig ourselves too much of a hole,” Ogilvy said. “At home you’ve got people cheering you on, but on the road everyone is against you.”

Part of Vanderbilt’s problem has been failing to establish its offensive rhythm. Getting Ogilvy involved early can free up Shan Foster and the rest of Vanderbilt’s shooters from outside.

“We didn’t get a great night out of our team in the post offense, and that made it tougher on the perimeter,” Stallings said.

To start the second half run, the Commodores repeatedly worked the post with Ogilvy, drawing three fouls on Wayne Chism in 2:30 minutes of play.

“A.J.’s not been very productive in the first half of the last three or four games,” Stallings said. “He’s done some good things in the second half, but you can’t in an environment like this only do it for a half.”

With three of the next five games on the road, the Commodores will have to resolve their issues quickly. It heads to Florida, then Ole Miss, after hosting LSU this Saturday.